BuddyPress 1.1 Released

Andy Peatling announced on September 30th that version 1.1 of BuddyPress was available to the public. This new version contains a bunch of core improvements along with new features. One of the new features that I think is huge, especially for those who want easier bbPress integration revolves around the new forum component. This component was rewritten from the ground up to eliminate the difficulties that were involved with bbPress integration prior to 1.1. Some other additions worth mentioning:

Completely re-written theme handling. One theme now controls all of your installation. No hidden HTML, everything is in the template ready for you to skin.

Easily create themes that are upgraded automatically when BuddyPress is updated.

Total site admin control of all content within an installation. Edit user’s profiles, update avatars, mark users as spammers, manage all groups, delete site activity entries.

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3 Comments

This is an impressive release and BuddyPress itself is an inspiring testament to what people can achieve when they pull together and create something that everyone in the world can use and build upon.

It is also a thuddingly definitive answer to all those who think that worthwhile things must carry a price tag, that they can only exist behind pay-walls.

BuddyPress cuts through all the FUD, all the deliberate misinterpretation that has been flying around recently and reminds us, as a community, that WordPress is about more, much more, than a few guys whipping themselves into hysteria because they feel that WordPress, and all the effort that has gone into it over the years, hasn’t made it easy enough for them to cash in.

What need you, being come to sense,
But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence
And prayer to shivering prayer, until
You have dried the marrow from the bone?

I’m really impressed by Buddypress and plan to start working with it when WPMU 2.9 comes around (unless I get a reasonable timeframe for WPMU/WP integration with 3.0). I’m really interested in the new theme architecture, but even after listening to Andy on WP Weekly, I couldn’t get a clear understanding of how the framework does/doesn’t integrate with existing wordpress frameworks.

For example, Justin’s Theme Hybrid seems to use creation of child functions.php and style.css as the major ways to customize Hybrid with child themes. I like this, but BP seems to take the direct override approach with new templates in the “child” theme directory (which is also possible in Hybrid, but seems less desirable).

Ultimately, I assume developers would want the WPMU, bbPress and BP theme frameworks to work through ONE child theme to create a unified look and feel for the entire site. Not quite sure if that’s possible or even contemplated. Hopefully, someone will answer that question before WPMU comes out and I have to find out for myself.

@designodyssey – I know shortly after appearing on WordPress Weekly, Andy began working on a post that would explain in clearer details the theme framework. Haven’t seen the post yet so he must still be working on it or forgot about it.

A unified look and feel that can be easily accomplished between all the projects would be a blessing for many people I’d imagine.